Poll: Satisfied with Call of Duty’s delayed Game Pass entry?

Xbox announced that future Call of Duty titles will not join Xbox Game Pass on release day. New entries will be added to Game Pass Ultimate the following holiday after each game’s release, about a year later.

The timing applies only to future Call of Duty releases and does not remove existing games from the service. Xbox presented the change at the same time it reduced prices for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass earlier this year.

Under the updated plan, new Call of Duty games will appear on Game Pass Ultimate roughly a year after launch instead of being available on day one. Call of Duty: Vanguard has been added to the Ultimate, PC and Premium tiers and remains available through those subscriptions.

Game Pass currently offers multiple tiers. Game Pass Ultimate bundles console, PC and cloud access. Other options include PC Game Pass and lower-priced tiers that do not include all Ultimate features.

Players who want access to new Call of Duty releases at launch must buy the games at release or wait until the titles join Game Pass Ultimate around the following holiday season. The company has said the timing is for future releases and is not retroactive.

Craig Reid, a former video producer who covered Xbox, wrote that he supports making Game Pass Ultimate more affordable but has reservations about removing day-one additions for Call of Duty. He noted Vanguard’s addition and wrote that the service continues to include Call of Duty titles.